Google is apparently paying Apple, by way of a revenue sharing agreement, a significant amount of money to remain the default search engine for the iPhone. The terms mean that in 2014, Apple received $1 billion from Google, according to a court transcript from the Oracle vs. Google lawsuit, in a report published by Bloomberg.

Apple and Google both lobbied the court to strike the details of their search deal from court documents, Bloomberg reported, with Google arguing it was "highly sensitive." When Google asked the court to hide the details of the deal, it said the information could hinder similar deals with other companies, indicating that Google has muscled its way into default status on other platforms as well.

The two companies have an agreement under which Apple gets a cut on the revenue Google makes through the Apple devices. The exact terms of the agreement aren't known, however, according to a Google witness, Apple at one time charged 34 percent of the revenue share. The transcript was soon after removed from electronic court records, following a filing by both Google and Apple to seal and redact the transcript as it contained 'highly confidential' information.

Photo Credit: google

Oracle’s lawsuit against the search engine giant started in 2010, and according to the Redwood City, California-based company, Goole infringed their copyright by using 37 Java APIs on its Android mobile operating process. Oracle is seeking damages that now could basically exceed $1 billion, given the fact that the Java APIs that are the object of the lawsuit were used in newer versions of the Android program since the copyright suit was filed. They are keen to see how the court will rule in this case, given the fact that if Oracle wins the case against the search engine and program company, and APIs will be protected by copyright, it will be much more difficult and pricey to create new program that is based on them.source: bloomberg